On this day in 2002, ten years ago, Kingdom Hearts released in North America. A collaboration between Square Enix and Disney, Kingdom Hearts was the first game of a series that has sold over 18 million copies to date. Today, the series marks its 10th anniversary.
We are months past the release of the 7th game, Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], but we still have much to look forward to-- Kingdom Hearts III is all but confirmed to be the next game in the series, and the director, Tetsuya Nomura, has hinted at other developments soon to come.
We'd like to remind you that although there is no confirmation yet, there is a small chance that we might see a Kingdom Hearts announcement at Tokyo Game Show 2012, which starts in only a few days. You can see a countdown to the event on the right-hand side of our homepage.
What is your Kingdom Hearts story? Please leave a comment and let us know how the series has been a big part of your life.
As you would know, 5 individual AR cards were produced for each version (Japanese, North American and European) of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. The last 3 European cards were recently released through Club Nintendo, and the first scans of these cards have only just appeared online-- thanks to JayC from KH13. We've created an archive of AR cards, and have added the European cards to this archive. These 3 new cards can be seen below.
Square Enix have updated their official website for the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- soundtrack. This update is an update to the track listing page, which now includes tracks from Birth by Sleep. This single track can be seen below.
Update: The website has updated with more Birth by Sleep tracks, for a new total of 7 tracks from the game. This updated list can be seen below. You can also translations of Shimomura's comments below.
Official Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- website
Birth by Sleep
1. Dearly Beloved
2. Terra
3. Ventus
4. Enter the Darkness
5. Aqua
6. Dismiss
7. Dark Impetus
Each track on the track listing page contains a comment from the composer of the song, in this case, Takeharu Ishimoto. Our translator goldpanner has translated each of these comments, and they (the Birth by Sleep one) can be read below.
Dearly Beloved: And here it is again, ‘Dearly Beloved’, haha. I’ve said this many times so I’m sure many of you already know this, but, in every ‘Dearly Beloved’ for titles after KHII, I incorporated the first part of the melody of the song played during the ending of the first title ‘Always on My Mind’, but not in the Birth by Sleep version. Yes, because that game was set further in the past than the first title. I was particular about that. This version has the most violent ups and downs and the biggest scope of all the arrangements so far. I really like the piano variation with the number of sounds gradually increasing, and the slightly lonely violin phrase that comes in the middle. --Yoko Shimomura
Terra: It's a very short track, but, I think I was able to express the kind of person Terra is, haha, singing my own praises here. This song was born from the main melody of 'Fate of the Unknown'. The image in my head that corresponds to that musical phrase is 'power'. 'Power' is sometimes strong, sometimes gentle, sometimes fragile, and sometimes invites ruin and destruction. For that that 'power' to somehow advance you on the right path, and show you the right path. That's what I pray. --Yoko Shimomura
Ventus: This song is also a combo song. I had actually been writing a completely fresh song when direction came from Mr Tetsu to make "a song that is Roxas and Sora's themes added together, but not obviously, so it feels like a new song"... (needless to say, I thought, ughh, tell me that before I start! Haha). Seeing as I was dressing up the connected melodies of two themes as one new song (haha), I put my whole heart into making sure it didn't sound strained, but the Sora melody on piano that comes in at about 0:31 and the Sora melody on oboe from 0:58~on happened extremely naturally. As if any other way than having that play there was unthinkable. That sort of feeling. And then, I also went with a variation of the 'Dearly Beloved' phrase played surreptitiously on piano in the background. --Yoko Shimomura
Enter the Darkness: Enter the Darkness is a song with many components, which I think makes it a song that fills you with strength especially for fighting the last boss. I contributed some of the songs from Birth by Sleep. My involvement began with a single phone call from Kawamori of the sound staff, saying "can you help?". My suprised reaction of "What, not me??" was met with a no, "we're going with you, Ishimoto". We began sort of like, "okay, but I want to choose which tracks I do". In the beginning I was quite anxious, but with the way it turned out, I am now filled with gladness that we did it that way. It's always great to have a chance to try new things, and I've learned that it's important to take that first step without complaint.
More importantly, it even made it safely through this poll onto the CD, chosen by the fans, and that makes me happier than anything. --Takeharu Ishimoto
Aqua: Just like 'Terra', this song was born from 'Fate of the Unknown'. I absolutely wanted to use a particular piano phrase from around the middle of 'Fate of the Unknown'. When I first made the demo I used piano for the main, and it was a relatively uninspiring, easy song. They requested that they wanted me to "have it make you feel more determination"... I listened to the tune play for a while, and then I thought of using cello for the melody. The timbre of the cello conveyed for me that degree of power and heartbreak. For some mysterious reason, when I want this sort of timbre, the cello is absolutely irreplaceable with any other instrument. --Yoko Shimomura
Dismiss: Yes, another combo song. What's with this parade of combos, haha. This is the phrase from 'Destati' entwined with Terra's theme. This part was already there when I first began writing this song. It remained the same right to the present form. For me, when I am thinking of how to bring songs together to a certain degree, there are three patterns:
1. When the horizontal aspect (melodic line) is already finished,
2. when the vertical aspect (the way the sounds layer, the counterline etc) composition is already finished, and
3. when both the flow of the horizontal aspect and the composition of the vertical aspect are already finished.
Among these, which do you think is the hardest? The answer is number three. You might be thinking, but if it's all been thought out already then wouldn't it be easy! But, it aaall has to play at the same time. Vertical aspect, horizontal aspect, everything. I can't explain it very well but, disregarding the time axis, there's the horizontal aspect as the horizontal aspect and the vertical aspect as the vertical aspect and then the shape they complete (the shape of vertical and horizontal properly meshing), everything!! In practice, it means that I gather the melody for the first part inside my head and start writing, but then, inside my head, at the same time as the melody I am currently writing, the portion for the second part is playing all together, haha. I am so slow and bad at gathering it up...... --Yoko Shimomura
Dark Impetus: I have very strong memories to do with this song. I'm very sorry to trouble you with my personal matters, but, at the time, I was confronting a certain problem. I felt like I was caught in this deep deep bottomless darkness, and I couldn't break out. But, when I began writing this song, for some reason it filled me with incredible strength. I don't know why, but it pushed me forwards and forwards. Write this song, it said. I thought I was caught in that darkness, but the song pushed me to the front of that darkness, and I got my footing back. It's a strange story, isn't it. Is that what 'drastic treatment' is? (I don't think so... haha) Of course, it goes without saying that this song was also first written under the conditions of "It's for a mystery man so it's a mystery!" haha. --Yoko Shimomura
IGN have announced the tracklisting for The Greatest Video Game Music 2, a 20 track album containing game songs played by The London Philharmonic Orchestra. Fate of the Unknown, the song appearing in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, will be included in the album as track #13.
Secondly, IGN have named their top 100 RPGs of all time, and both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II made the list. Kingdom Hearts is #84, while Kingdom Hearts II is #68.
The Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- soundtrack is a 2-disc set containing the best music from the Kingdom Hearts series, chosen by fans, releasing on September 19, 2012. You may have seen the recent news about the cover art reveal, or maybe the article revealing some of the tracklist. Today, we have an image of the box it comes in! Yoko Shimomura Tweeted a photo of the box, and this photo can be seen below.
Update 1: Takeharu Ishimoto has uploaded another photo of the box to Instagram. This photo can be seen below.
Update 2: The Square Enix e-STORE's official Facebook have uploaded 7 photos of the soundtrack. These show, for the first time, the CDs inside the box. You can see these below.
Square Enix Gangan, the creators of the Kingdom Hearts manga series, have uploaded the cover artwork for Volume 5 of the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days manga, the last volume of the manga, which releases on September 22, 2012. You can see the cover art below, thanks to ArikaMiz for the tip.
Square Enix Gangan, the creators of the Kingdom Hearts manga series, have uploaded a wallpaper celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts series. The wallpaper serves as a calendar for September 2012 and part of October 2012. It also mentions the September 22, 2012 release date of Volume 5 of the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days manga. You can see the wallpaper, in various sizes, below.
Square Enix have updated their official website for the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- soundtrack. This update is an update to the track listing page, which now includes tracks from 358/2 Days. These tracks, along with the others announced, can be seen below.
Official Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- website
358/2 Days
1. Dearly Beloved
2. Musique pour la tristesse de Xion
3. At Dusk, I Will Think of You ...
4. Vector to the Heavens
5. Another Side - Battle Ver. -
Each track on the track listing page contains a comment from the composer of the soundtrack, and the Kingdom Hearts series, Yoko Shimomura. Our translator goldpanner has translated each of these comments, and they can all be read below.
Dearly Beloved: I was told that they wanted "to jump in quick this time" because the intro to KH2 was so long, so this version begins comparatively quickly. Basically, I was conscious when composing to try for a slow, rich flow following in the footsteps of the one from KH2, and also, to have it feel a little heartbreaking. I always wanted to go with using the same tune but changing the impression a little each time, and I am very happy that I was able to pull it off. --Yoko Shimomura
Musique pour la tristesse de Xion: I wanted to see if I could incorporate "the sadness of Xion, who shouldn't be able to feel sadness" into the tile. In English it would have been the word 'sad', but I thought nahh, that doesn't sound very Xion-like! So I used French, which I rarely do. It ended up kinda Ravel-like, haha. I also wrote this before in the comment for the soundtrack, but I made this with the concept of "something, like a faint illusion, that should surely be there but somehow feels as though it's not; it's nothing, but it somehow feels like there's something important there..." --Yoko Shimomura
At Dusk, I Will Think of You…: During development, I called this the "Ice-cream-Time Theme". That's what it is, isn't it, haha. In the dusk we think back to everyone's smiles then, the fun times, and to important memories. When you all eat ice cream at twilight, who do you think of? --Yoko Shimomura
Vector to the Heavens: When the name first appeared in "Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts Field & Battle", it was "Musique pour la tristesse de Xion", and that confused everyone to no end. I'm really sorry ;; The story is, the song in the Piano Collections is Xion's theme and battle theme joined together, and because of the overall impression of the song, I used her theme song's title. For the concept of the battle theme, I used "vectors", originally from mathematics. Because of that, I decided I absoutely had to use "vector" when I gave it a title. What is she facing? Where is she going? What is she carrying?? That became the title just as it was. --Yoko Shimomura
Another Side – Battle Ver. -: "Another Side" sure did well! Even the battle version made it into the ranking. I'm honestly surprised. I heard so many happy voices from you all for "Another Side" too, more than I could have thought for a track originally from "Kingdom Hearts Final Mix". I made the "– Battle Ver. -" because they wanted battling with that song as BGM just like in the secret movie. Upon that request I looped it and tweaked fine details. It's mostly the same, but it's a tiiiny bit different. Just a bit, haha. --Yoko Shimomura
Previous announcements:
- Box artwork revealed
- BBS track and Ishimoto comments
- KH2 tracks and Shimomura comments
- Official website & KH / CoM tracks and Shimomura comments
- Cover artwork revealed
- Announcement & September 19, 2012 release date
Square Enix have updated the Square Enix Official Goods Online Shop with a page for the Meow Wow plush toy that was featured in the instruction manual of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. The plush toy is available now, and can be bought from the store for a price of US$34.99.
Meow Wow Plush on the Square Enix Official Goods Online Shop
Update: Some related news for our fans outside North America! Two separate United Kingdom-based retailers have "confirmed" similar, but conflicting release dates of the plush toy. Forbidden Planet has confirmed a September 30, 2012 release, while ozgameshop.com has listed the date as September 28, 2012. While both of these stores are UK-based, they actually ship internationally, so check it out if you are not a NA resident!
Hey everyone! We hope you've all been enjoying the last month and a half of Kingdom Hearts 3D! Today, KH13 is happy to announce that we have formed a partnership with Everglow8444 from YouTube. Everglow8444 will be helping out with our video archive, and recording cutscenes and playthroughs when needed.
So far, we have added Everglow's English playthrough of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] to the archive! This is a critical mode playthrough in great quality, so we recommend that you check it out. We will be updating very soon with an archive of English cutscenes from the game, and will continue to update with Everglow's great quality Kingdom Hearts videos. We hope you look forward to it!
Also, one last minor update: we have moved KH13.com to a newer server! This should result in a faster site (sorry for the slowness recently!). Now that the move is complete (sorry for the downtime!), you can continue to access KH13 like normal.
NPD Group have released the sales chart for video games in North America sold in August 2012. GamesIndustry International uploaded this chart, which can be seen below. It reveals that Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] was the 3rd top-selling game of the month!
Nintendo Everything were able to get a response from Nintendo about the report, who revealed that Kingdom Hearts 3D sold over 180,000 copies in August 2012, in North America. Please note that this value does NOT include pre-orders, copies sold on July 31, or the Mark of Mastery Edition. (Which means the real will be higher!) Unlike the VGChartz estimates which we've seen before, this data is actually 100% accurate.
Square Enix have updated their official website for the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- soundtrack. This update is an update to the track listing page, which now includes tracks from Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. These tracks can be seen below.
Official Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- website
Kingdom Hearts II
1. Dearly Beloved
2. Passion-KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version-
3. Passion ~ opening version ~
4. Lazy Afternoons
5. Missing You
6. The 13th Struggle
7. Roxas
8. Sora
9. Organization XIII
10. The 13th Reflection
11. The Other Promise
12. Riku
13. Darkness of the Unknown
14. Rage Awakened
15. Fate of the Unknown
Each track on the track listing page contains a comment from the composer of the soundtrack, and the Kingdom Hearts series, Yoko Shimomura. Our translator goldpanner has translated each of these comments, and they can all be read below.
Dearly Beloved: "We're finally here again. We made it back." Those were the feelings put into creating this song. Because the intro was long, production did me an impossibly huge favour and changed the title screen to fit it. (I marched to the programmers working on their day off!) There absolutely had to be this much build up until the melody could run its course, no matter what. That's what the song told me. It wasn't up to me. I am no more than a servant to the living breathing song. Haha.
Passion -KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version-: From a powerful strike of an intro, this song flows into an address-like gentle melody, lapsing afterwards into a section like memories of strong determination awakening, then turns to a grand, powerful and dramatic close. This bold arrangement of hidden passion, like a flower opening with strength to face something, is certainly overwhelming.
Passion ～opening version～: My first impression on hearing this song was, "this song is quite difficult to grasp..." There's a reverse-playback phrase with profound hidden meaning running in the opposite direction to the catch. For some reason it really stays with you... it's an incredible song. Ms Utada is definitely a genius. (No, I'm sure you all know that already without the likes of me having to say it) I have a friend who is really great at karaoke, and it's a long story, but they told me "it's a super hard song to sing~!" Um, please don't ask something as tactless as whether I can sing it, okay~!
Lazy Afternoons: I said this in interviews many times back then, but, this song first appeared in Chain of Memories, and it gave me a lot of trouble. I redid the song over and over because it "didn't feel enough like twilight". So, I actually went out on the veranda of my house during twilight, feeling down and thinking "maybe I'm just no good...", zoning right out gazing at the clouds dyed with red. This song was born from that. The twilight feel does come through, doesn't it?
Missing You: In my own mind, I made this song as part of a set with the song "Treasured Memories" from the first title, which unfortunately didn't make it onto this best-of list. As in, "important treasure" (past) → "I don't want to lose my important, important..." (present). Ah, I'm always talking about musical stuff. Don't read too much into it, please, haha.
The 13th Struggle: This song was unexpectedly popular amongst our team, as well as our players. I personally thought intense quavers and bass half tone movements would reflect the concept of Organisation XIII, but halfway through work, it came to light that I'd missed Mr Tetsu's image of Organisation XIII, which was the piano phrase in "Another Side"! So, it became a song that combined both images of Organisation XIII.
Roxas: This song is truly blessed with so much love. When Mr Tetsu listened to my demo of the song, played on the piano like big droplets, he really liked it. I kept it basically the same, just fleshed it out a little to complete it. It would probably make the top three for shortest amount of time I spent actually working on a song in my whole life. It really was a gift from the gods of music.
Sora: With this song, the truth is, I'd decided to do something like this, but I wrote it before it was written as "Sora's theme," to use during the credits. Haha, I remember explaining, "this beginning, this section is Sora's theme, see!" while I was having people listen to the demo credits for me. The reason it happened like that was because the music for the credits had to be completed before recording. I thought, "If they say this is no good as Sora's theme then I'll have to redo the credits too!" but both Sora's theme and the credits were given the OK, happily~
Organization XIII: This is the first part of "Another Side". Mr Tetsu loved it, saying, "when I think of Organisation XIII, I think of this phrase." The phrase is used many times in many different songs. It's difficult to make a song that is simple but leaves a powerful impression, so I am grateful it exists. This song works hard to be useful and dutiful to its mother, maybe to rival Dearly Beloved, haha.
The 13th Reflection: This is an Organisation XIII battle theme added to Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+. I wanted to make something that expressed a unique clean feel, a floating feel, something faster, like cracking into a sprint, and this is how the song turned out. I thought it would be rare, compared to the boss theme of the first KH title which had many patterns swelling to a crash in the second half, to do something with a floating out feel.
The Other Promise: Ever since the title released, this song has had a huge impact. It was only in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, so it by no means seemed like it would become something this major, but... (thinking that and looking back, the songs related to Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ did very well, haha). It was used in many promo videos, and even a drammatica (orchestral) version was made, so there must be many people who know of it. This song was born from Mr Tetsu saying to me, "I want Roxas to be fought to a flashier piano version of his theme." I wanted to express questioning the utmost limits of our beings, and the unbearable sadness of a destiny you can't fight against.
Riku: Actually, Riku's theme has a pretty subdued impression, haha. It doesn't seem to be talked about much, see (sweatmark!), but I'm very happy that there are people who like it more than I realised. This is from the image of Riku that comes unhesitatingly to mind. That is, "while quiet, having a hidden passion."
Darkness of the Unknown: When we recorded this for the soundtrack, this track was originally three parts that made one song. However, it was split into three songs during production. It would have been troublesome, so they let me record the pattern in one song, identical to the soundtrack. After that, this song also ended up being used many times in other patterns. Then during recording, it ended up being put on a single loop. To those who liked it, I'm sorry...
Rage Awakened: During development, I didn't know the true form of who's song this was. I should say, actually, that it's always like that for secret bosses. It's like, "a mystery man is supposed to be a mystery man! a mystery!" haha. I make the songs relying on very skimpy information like "Someone important that connects to the next title," and "they attack like this~ they move like this~". When I begin composing for the next title, I finally get to give a huge sigh in relief. "Ahh, it does fit, I'm so glad." It runs me ragged, haha.
Fate of the Unknown: Now we have a song that became Terra and Aqua's themes, and the starting point for the music of Birth by Sleep in general. After watching the movie over and over to engrave the image into my head, I wrote a roughly organised version of the song in one sitting, and I surprised even myself at how closely it matched. Personally, I love the part around just before Kingdom Hearts appears in the sky, when it changes key and returns to the main melody.
The international street date for various pieces of Kingdom Hearts merchandise has been released. Firstly, the Meow Wow plush toy that was expected to release on August 30, 2012 appears to have been delayed. AAA Anime's listing for the item now lists the product's date as "TBA", while Forbidden Planet (a United Kingdom store)'s page lists it as "September 2012".
Secondly, AAA Anime has revealed (scroll down to the "Other products" section) that various pieces of Kingdom Hearts merchandise have a North American street date of November 28, 2012. These items are as follows: Sticker: Kingdom Hearts II Sheet, Sticker: Kingdom Hearts Sheet, & Kingdom Hearts 3D: Cover Art Wall Scroll. Enjoy!
The cover artwork for the second Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] novel, Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Side Riku, has been released. Square Enix have updated their Game Books Online page for the novel with the cover artwork, and this artwork can be seen below. Side Riku will release on September 27, 2012 in Japan. Thanks to aibo_ac7 for the tip.
Square Enix have launched their official website for the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- soundtrack. The soundtrack will be released on September 19, 2012, contains 2 discs, will be sold for the price of ¥3,500 (approximately US$44.73), and features the most popular Kingdom Hearts tracks, as voted on earlier by the public.
Official Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories- website
The website reveals the Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories tracks which will be included in the soundtrack. These can be seen below.
Kingdom Hearts
1. Dearly Beloved
2. Hikari -KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version-
3. Destati
4. Traverse Town
5. Hand in Hand
6. Kairi I
7. Hollow Bastion
8. Always on My Mind
9. Hikari
10. Another Side
Chain of Memories
1. Naminé
2. Lord of the Castle
The website also includes a new background, the soundtrack cover artwork, alternate cover artworks, and images relating to the games. All of these images can be seen below, in our gallery.
Each track on the track listing page contains a comment from the composer of the soundtrack, and the Kingdom Hearts series, Yoko Shimomura. Our translator goldpanner has translated each of these comments, and they can all be read below.
Dearly Beloved: Of course, this is the track I wanted to begin with. I composed this melody in the image of waves lapping in and out on the shore. I made it just thinking it would be nice to use for some kind of scene someday, and then it went and ended up with the huge position of title song! I decided on the name 'Dearly Beloved' in a flash, I was really happy with it. -Yoko Shimomura
Hikari ('Light') -KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version- : As music with the image of Kingdom Hearts goes, you cannot leave out this song. I love this melody and I love this arrangement of it. In the first meeting with Mr Kaoru Wada, who I asked to do the arrangement and orchestration, I asked him to "please compose to your liking a grand arrangement that gives the feel of a huge drama." --Yoko Shimomura
Destati: Now, this piece is the first I made and included that represented the Darkside (ha ha) of the Kingdom Hearts project. The musical phrase is incorporated in every title, including the latest one, Dream Drop Distance. But, in the games, it does not actually exist as a song as it is~ Because of that, I worried to the last moment over where to place this track. --Yoko Shimomura
Traverse Town: When originally directed to create something that felt like a stroll through a fun town, this is what I made. It's quite a short tune, and I wish I'd made it slightly longer... I do regret that a tiny bit, haha. But, well, when I think about ways it could be lengthened, adding any more to the melody would feel redundant, so I guess maybe it is fine the way it is after all~ that's what I end up thinking! --Yoko Shimomura
Hand in Hand: For the first half of Traverse Town, the battle theme was the same as on the darkened islands, and I thought, I want to fight battles that are as bright as I can make them! I went and made this additional song without being directed to do so. I was told that "if the song is good, then we'll think about it," and so when they listened and gave me the OK, I remember being incredibly happy. --Yoko Shimomura
Kairi I: For some reason, Kairi is the only one who has had a theme from the first title. On top of that, there were three versions of it, haha. Between I and II, only the first chord is different. Even just that changes the feel of the song significantly~ I made three versions to fit the cutscenes properly. I'm glad I wasn't told to make three versions for all the themes from then on, haha! --Yoko Shimomura
Hollow Bastion: Before I had started composing this song, I was playing through the game myself, and the moment I arrived in Hollow Bastion I thought, "Ahh, I've made it this far, then. The last dungeon feels close..." I put that impression straight into the song. Even now when I listen, I am reminded of falling willy-nilly down traps and get sad, haha. --Yoko Shimomura
Always on My Mind: I have deep memories of this song. I recorded and made a movie file of the cutscene myself, and to make the song match the events in the scene, I adjusted it over and over, I really mean it, over and over and over and over and over and over!!!!! (to be repetitive! haha.) It incorporates many musical phrases. Actually, from KH2 onwards, the title themes (apart from BbS) all incorporate the first part of the melody of this song. --Yoko Shimomura
Hikari: And now we're finally at the theme song for the first title, Hikari. I've heard the demo track from before this song was finished. I'm really proud of that, haha. Even the demo track had an indescribable strength to it and I felt a premonition that it would be a famous song, but even so, when I heard the master track I was still surprised at what an amazing song it had turned out to be. This song, which Ms Hikaru Utada said had the first title she'd written in kanji, and that she had taken it from her own name, is a hugely impressive famous song. When I'm down town, even now, no matter where I am around (ha ha), for an instant I slip back in time. --Yoko Shimomura
Another Side: Pardon me for taking a moment to speak of personal things, but this was actually the last song I wrote as an employee of Square. At the time, I wrote this not knowing what was happening regarding a sequel, and with the chance this would be the last song I'd write. I remember going home feeling as exhausted as a mere shell (ha ha). Ten years has passed, and the fact that I still have the privilege of being in charge like this, and the fact that this song is still regarded so highly among you, makes me so very happy. --Yoko Shimomura
Naminé: The source of these sounds is Re:Chain of Memories, the version for the PS2, but the song actually first appeared in Chain of Memories for the GBA. It comes before KH2, so it's the second theme song for a person, after Kairi. Heroines being treated a bit too well, haha. I composed the song with images I got from the name 'Naminé', of gentle rolling waves drifting, and of the underwater movement of water. --Yoko Shimomura
Lord of the Castle: This is a final boss theme added to the Re:Chain of Memories version. The two final boss themes I originally had were relatively plain, none in a fiery vein, so I wanted to make a super fiery theme, I decided! And so I made it! But... the truth is, when I presented the demo, I was told I had to re-do it, and to 'pump it up more'. More? More?? MORE~??? RAAAAGHH~!! I pumped up just like that, and it turned into a pretty grand theme, haha. --Yoko Shimomura
